Leylah Fernandez proved the hero of Canada once more as she secured a crucial point for her country in the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals final.
To say that this was a magical run by Canada would be underselling it by quite a lot. They assembled a pretty decent team, with Leylah Fernandez expected to shoulder much of the load in singles and Gabriela Dabrowski in the doubles.
Fernandez is the MVP of Canada by delivering crucial wins in both singles and doubles with Dabrowski, but let's also mention Marina Stakusic, who won some crucial singles matches as well. She bested Martina Trevisan earlier today to give Canada the first point.
The second point comes after Fernandez bested Jasmine Paolini, saving herself from double duty after she had it yesterday. It was Fernandez's fifth win at the event, with all five being crucial.
She saved Canada yesterday by winning both her singles and doubles matches and showed no fatigue today despite those heroics.
An early break set the tone nicely against Paolini even if she lost the break immediately after. She would break the Italian two more times to win the opening set 6-2 a very solid display from the baseline. She totalled 12 winners, pushing Paolini around the court and forcing 13 unforced errors from the Italian.
The second set was equally impressive as she once again took an early lead and, from there, cruised without any issues. The final score was 6-2 6-2 for the Canadian, who finished with a very impressive showing from the baseline.
She totalled 23 winners and put a lot of pressure on Paolini, who couldn't deal with it with only 10 winners and 29 unforced errors. That was simply not enough. Canada won the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup thanks to the heroics of Fernandez, who had an amazing finish to the season.
0 Comments